DDA Annual Report – May 2012

Daniel J. Scheeres, Chair

I. Membership

The ongoing effort to reconcile the Division’s membership records with the Society’s membership database continued. At the time of this report, the AAS database lists DDA members in the following categories:

Full 188Junior 26Affiliate 23Emeritus 47TOTAL 311

This total, obtained using the AAS Membership Directory search tool, exceeds the sum of the four types of members by 27.

The Division’s records include a total 323 members. The list may include members who are not current on their dues, or who have joined very recently and do not yet appear in the AAS database. In an effort to eliminate the sources of error, the Secretary recommended that all DDA members check their official membership status on the AAS website, and report any problems directly to the Membership Office. A few discrepancies were discovered. The AAS Membership Office has been very helpful in the effort to verify membership status and to make corrections as needed.

The death of one Division member has been reported since the last annual meeting. Kim Innanen, Professor Emeritus, York University, passed away on August 3, 2011.

Kim Innanen with son, Kris

II. Quarterly Committee meetings

Following the AAS Leadership Conference in October 2011, attended by the DDA Secretary and Treasurer, the decision was made to hold more frequent meetings of the DDA Committee via telephone and/or Skype. The intention was to engage the members of the Committee more actively in division governance and decision-making, to make better use of their expertise and enthusiasm, and to enable the division to grow and evolve to meet its members’ needs.

The first two meetings, held on 14 February 2012 and April 23, 2012 were well-attended. The minutes of these meetings are available from the Secretary. There is uniform agreement among committee members that these quarterly meetings are valuable and should be continued.

III.By-laws Modifications

Three modifications were suggested and discussed in the committee. These were also discussed at the DDA business meeting. Two of them are being forwarded to the AAS Executive committee for further consideration.

1. The first of these to be discussed came from the DDA Treasurer and involved the financial controls to be set up and used to insure that the annual meetings stay within pre-approved budgets and do not result in deficits. One source of past problems, it was discovered, is that there is no indication in the by-laws about how a LOC should operate, whether it should be appointed, and who reviews the budget for the meeting. The proposed wording (subject to slight modification) is:

In order to facilitate the convening of the regular meeting in a given year, the Committee will establish a Local Organizing Committee (LOC). The LOC will be charged with planning and developing a budget for the meeting, in conjunction with the Division Committee and AAS Executive Office, and making all of the necessary local arrangements. The LOC is directed to the latest edition of the DDA Meeting Organizing Procedures, as provided on the DDA website, for specific tasks and a timeline for hosting a regular meeting of the Division.

There was uniform agreement in Committee and at the Business Meeting that this amendment is a reasonable and needed update to the by-laws. The DDA now submits this to the AAS Executive Council for their consideration.

2. The second modification to be discussed came from the Nominating Committee and involves how the DDA should break ties in their election votes. The specific circumstances leading to this proposal are mentioned later under “Elections & Appointments”. The essence of the change will be:

In the event of a tie vote for any DDA officer the current DDA chair will vote to break the tie. The DDA chair will normally not vote unless a tie must be broken.

Again, there was uniform support in the Committee and at the Business Meeting for this change. That it is a needed change to the bylaws is clear, given the situation that arose this year. The DDA now submits this to the AAS Executive Council for their consideration.

3. The third modification to be discussed also came from the Nominating Committee. This related to how the DDA currently sets up its ballots. We now ensure that we have two candidates for each open position (except for Treasurer and Secretary) and then take a vote. A proposal was made that the Nominating Committee be given the authority to arrange ballots that do not necessarily have two persons per open position, and may have as few as one per open position. There was significant debate on this proposal in Committee and at the Business Meeting. While there were several people clearly in support of this sort of update, the majority of Committee members and Business Meeting attendees were against this change and preferred to keep the current practice. Given this, the proposed by-law modification is not being currently considered. Comments from the AAS Executive Council regarding such a change for future consideration would be appreciated.

IV.Meeting Planning & Organization

The DDA Executive Committee drafted a Meeting Planning Checklist to aid in organizing the division’s annual meeting. When a final version has been accepted by the committee, this checklist will be made available to anyone planning to host a meeting, to ensure that potential hosts have an accurate understanding of the work involved in organizing a successful meeting, and to ensure that all essential elements are addressed in the planning process.

2012 Meeting: The 2012 meeting was held at the Timberline Lodge near Portland, OR. Initial estimates are that 72 people attended, presenting a total of 62 talks and 16 posters. Financial details and a final report on the meeting are still being developed.

2013 Meeting: Sylvio Ferraz-Mello made a presentation regarding the 2013 DDA meeting to be held in Paraty, Brasil, May 5-9, 2013. The outgoing chair, Dan Scheeres, will remain engaged with the Brazilian LOC to ensure proper communication and timely schedule updates are maintained.

2014 Meeting: The DDA Committee decided to hold the 2014 meeting in the East Coast region. Two possible locations were considered, a Philadelphia, PA meeting was proposed by Hal Levison, designed to mirror a successful meeting that was held there a few years back. Also, a Research Triangle area meeting was proposed by Alice Monet. The DDA Committee will work with both of these proposers and the AAS Support Staff for developing these ideas further.

2015 Meeting: The DDA Committee decided to hold the 2015 meeting in the West Coast region. Two possible locations were considered, a Caltech meeting was proposed by Gene Fahnestock, utilizing some new conference venues available on campus. A San Jose, CA meeting was proposed by Matija Cuk, along with a potential venue. The DDA Committee will work with both of these proposers and the AAS Support Staff for developing these ideas further.

2016 Meeting: A proposal to hold a DDA meeting in London, Great Britain, was presented by Craig Agnor. There was enthusiasm for this venue, although a decision on if an international meeting in 2016 was too soon after a 2013 meeting in Brazil was postponed. It was noted that the London proposal can be further delayed if needed.

V. Elections & Appointments

A total of 110 ballots was received, all but one via email. Approximately 35% of division members voted. The current and former DDA Secretaries counted the ballots independently.

On this year’s ballot, the six candidates for the three open committee positions were listed as a group, and members could vote for no more than three. It turned out there was a tie for the

third highest number of votes, and this tie was not changed by the Chair’s ballot. Ultimately, the tie was broken by a coin toss, as the bylaws did not provide for another method.

This unusual situation occurred because the ballot did not require a choice between two candidates for each of three open positions on the committee, which has been the usual procedure for a number of years. When the candidates were paired, the Chair’s ballot would break any ties. This election experience prompted a review of the bylaws regarding elections, and led to one of the modifications being proposed.

New Officers (terms begin 1 July 2012):

CHAIR (2012-2013) Douglass P. Hamilton (Univ. of Maryland)

VICE CHAIR (2012-2013) Matija Cuk (SETI)

SECRETARY (2012-2015) Alice Monet (USNO, Ret.)

COMMITTEE (2012-2014) Eugene Fahnestock (JPL/Caltech)Jennifer Meyer (UC Santa

Barbara)Michele Trenti (Cambridge, UK)

PAST CHAIR (2011-2012) Daniel Scheeres (Univ. of Colorado)

Continuing Officers:

TREASURER (2010-2013) William I. Newman (UCLA)

COMMITTEE (2011-2013) Ruth Murray-Clay (Harvard CfA)

Matt Hedman (Cornell Univ.) Jerry Sellwood (Rutgers Univ.)

Retiring Officers:Steve Chesley (JPL)Martin Duncan (Queen’s

University)Nader Haghighipour (Univ. of Hawaii

IfA)

Brouwer Award Selection Committee:

2011/2012 Committee: Tom Statler (NSF), Yanquin Wu (U Toronto), Jack Wisdom (MIT), Dan Scheeres Acting Chair (U Colorado) Appointed in 2012: Lia Athanassoula (Obs Astronomique de Marseille), ???

The BASC had a somewhat turbulent year. The incoming chair, Paul Shankland, resigned as chair in the Fall. He was replaced by Jack Wisdom (MIT) and the chair position was moved to Tom Statler (NSF). In February, Statler noted that he did not have sufficient time to serve as chair, but was still willing to serve on the committee. Given the late date, Dan Scheeres decided to serve as acting chair and run the selection process.

Out of a field of 8 candidates the committee identified two strong contenders to forward to the DDA Committee. From these the DDA elected Jerry Sellwood (Rutgers) as the new Brouwer Award winner. It should be noted that Jerry is currently a member of the DDA committee, however he did not participate in any of the discussions or deliberations regarding his nomination and the eventual vote.

Jerry Sellwood, winner of the 2012 Brouwer Award.

Continuing: Tom Statler Chair (NSF), Yanquin Wu (U Toronto), Jack Wisdom (MIT), Doug Hamilton (U Maryland) To be appointed in 2012: Lia Athanassoula (Obs Astronomique de Marseille).

Student Stipend Committee:

2011/2012 Committee: Hal Levison Chair (SwRI), Marc Murison (NAO), Rory Barnes (U Washington).

The Student Stipend Committee received a total of 9 acceptable applications for this year’s meeting. A total of 3 awards were made, with the winners all presenting their work at the meeting. Of the 6 not awarded, only 1 was not able to attend.

This year’s winners were:• Christa Van Laerhoven (U Arizona, R. Greenberg Advisor)• Erika Nesvold (U Maryland)• Nathaniel Hamlin (UCLA, Will Newman Advisor)

Student Stipend winners: van Laerhoven, Nesvold and Hamlin.

Continuing: Marc Murison Chair, Rory Barnes (U Washington)To be appointed in 2012: Alice Quillen (U Rochester)

Nominating Committee:

2011/2012: A.W. Harris Chair (SSI), Kelly Holley-Bockelmann (Vanderbilt), David Nesvorny (SWRI)

The Nominating Committee came up with a full ballot of candidates for the 2012 elections. Al Harris also provided an extensive report that reviews past nominees and election slates that could be useful for future NC members.

Continuing: Kelly Holley-Bockelmann Chair (Vanderbilt), David Nesvorny (SWRI)2012 Appointment still to be made.

History Committee:Continuing: James Hilton